Handy Mississippi Genealogy Handbook

Morris, Gary L. Handy Mississippi Genealogy Handbook. s.l.: s.n., 2015.

As I was browsing at Amazon this week, I discovered an entry for a book on Mississippi genealogical research previously unknown to me. Even though the book was described as being 38 pages and costing $5.99, I decided to purchase it. When the book arrived, it really only had 36 pages. The book relies heavily upon Access Genealogy resources. Most other information is a listing of URLs or addresses.

The layout and formatting is confusing. The author uses the same heading style for sections as for the actual resource, making much of the information seem duplicated. Descriptions are not very useful and information provided is not complete enough to be useful at even a basic level.

The final section of the book provides a listing of common Mississippi surnames -- or what is SUPPOSED to be a listing of common Mississippi surnames. Instead, it is a listing of counties.

Don't waste your money on this volume! What little useful information included can be found easily on the Internet. Those wanting a book on Mississippi research are better off purchasing the dated Tracing Your Mississippi Ancestors by Anne S. Lipscomb and Kathleen Hutchison.

Genealogical Filing Systems Over the Years

When I first began doing genealogy years ago, I had little rhyme or reason to my filing. I had a bunch of folders that had paper in them. They were roughly sorted by "broad" family groups.

I quickly discovered that didn't work very well and broke them into smaller groups and into counties and such.

I think I visited a cousin who was into scrapbooking and saw the merits of notebooks. I created notebooks for most of the families. I made individual and/or family group sheets for each person. I filed documents pertaining to each behind the sheet. Unfortunately that didn't really work either, but for a long time I really didn't know a better way to do it. I still had a lot of stuff in folders that never made it to the new system. I probably began filing in either the notebook or a folder.

When talking with another genealogist, I learned his system was filing by the record. So if it was Monroe County, Mississippi Deeds, with his system, I'd put them in a folder (or folders) arranged so book 1 deeds were inserted by pages, then book 2, then book 3, etc. This meant that as long as I had my citation, I could find them. Correspondence folders could be arranged by the correspondent instead of by the family or families to which they pertained, which really helped when it came to e-mails that covered multiple families. Although I've begun rearranging my folders, I've got a long way to go on the project.

You may wonder why I chose to post on this topic. It's really simple. I planned a post to discuss evidence and reach a conclusion based on the genealogical proof standard. Additional information came to my attention tonight. It doesn't seem all that reliable on the surface, but it adds a new twist, and I need to look at documents again that are under multiple filing systems in my house. I cannot even remember which records are in some of those older files that may not be in my database. If certain ones are not present, I need to retrieve those from several locations before the reasonable exhaustive search has been made. Most of the documents I need will be in Monroe or Itawamba County, Mississippi or Fayette County, Alabama. Some may not exist, but I need to be certain of that and make sure that my search has been written up so I don't forget what I've done. It's been a long time since I really worked on this line (until recently), and it is finally being written up as it should have been 20 years ago.

We all need to revisit our old research and make sure it meets standards. I find that too much reliance on a database is not good for me. I do use one, but I need to write research reports to myself and then write a documented narrative. That is what works best for me!

Reunited

Pardon me if I borrow the title of a song from my high school years, but it seems to fit the topic of today's post. I just returned from my high school reunion. I was a bit disappointed in the turnout. Of course, I expected the turnout to be low. We really did not receive notification of the date until 3 months ago. Pricing and details only came to us in April. I suspect many of my friends had already planned other things for a holiday weekend. Others probably could not arrange to get off work on such notice when others in their places of employment had already requested days around the long weekend.

In spite of the low turnout, those of us who attended enjoyed visiting and reminiscing. I suspect most of us could have done without the DJ and the music that was mostly just interrupting our conversations. A few did dance, but there was little floor space available at our venue. I'd love to post a photo but I have not obtained permission to post one of the group shots some of my friends' spouses' took.

I'm really probably more excited about things that took place earlier in the day. I met with some cousins on my grandmother's paternal line at lunch. We then went out to where they were camping by the gravel pits around Bigbee to get a Y37 plus Family Finder sample. This will be in tomorrow's mail so the waiting begins. We already know where the autosomal DNA is pointing, but it will be interesting to see if we can identify a more specific line with the Y-DNA, perhaps through a mutation. We are showing matches to two branches with differing migration patterns. Persons from both of these areas migrated to the areas in Alabama and Mississippi where our ancestors resided. Hopefully we'll be able to bridge the gap.

After that, I went to my dad's first cousin's house where we attempted to identify all the people not previously identified in the 1984 reunion photograph. We managed to identify some of them. Most of those not identified were the younger children. We enjoyed visiting until it was time for her to go to her granddaughter's birthday party and for me to go to my reunion. We'd love to have another family reunion, but there are fewer and fewer first cousins, and the younger generations don't seem to care as much about getting together. Many of the older ones are unable to travel on their own.

Thoughts on New Ancestor Discoveries

Last week many people were excited about the "new" New Ancestor Discoveries rolling out on Ancestry DNA. I decided to take a look at them. I listed the New Ancestor Discoveries along with their dates for the kits I manage on Ancestry and made columns for each kit I manage. What surprised me was how little overlap my brother and father had. I had more overlap with my dad than he did, but even that wasn't perfect. For example, Dad had a hint for Malachi Watts (1793-1871) while I had a hint for Malachi's father Garrett Z. Watts (1756-1838). While I haven't figured out the exact connection for this line, I have a "hunch." I need to work forward on some of Garrett's lines to see if I can find the connection. What makes this an interesting match is Garrett's mother is supposed to be Cherokee. Our admixture shows no Native American, but of course, admixture is not very reliable. The trees from our "matches" show several variants of Garrett's mother's name.

I recognized some of the suggestions. Cassandra Parrish is a daughter of Allen Parish and his wife Elizabeth, both of whom are already in the tree. I suspect Cassandra came up as a hint because of the spelling variation and absence of a surname for her mother. John Chism is the husband of John Sheppard Anglin's sister Mary "Polly". The connection is really on Polly's parents William M. Anglin and Elizabeth "Betsy" Sheppard. Ann Eliza Abernathy is the wife of Mary Ann Harris's brother Charles Newton Harris. The common ancestors in that case are Walton A. Harris and Margaret Mosely. Several more with similar situations to these exist.

However, a handful of matches potentially useful in expanding a couple of lines are present. Our John Allred's father is unknown. We have long suspected Isaac who is "running around" the same parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama is probably a brother. Autosomal DNA confirms a kinship between the two although it cannot be determined if the relationship is sibling or cousin. Several Allreds show up in our matches: James Allred (1784-1876), Reuben Warren Allred (1815-1896), and Nancy Cynthia Allred (1840-1901). James is the person some people try to say is John's father. Unfortunately the evidence is not strong enough at this point, and I still need to complete a reasonably exhaustive search before I can build a case. Reuben and Cynthia are too young to be parents, but their family ties may help us establish a connection.I'm also excited about an Abigail Harris (1817-1889). I glanced at it quickly. It appears she was attached to a John Harris I suspect may be Walton's grandfather although she is more the age to be a sibling to Walton. I will want to see if the online tree in the "quick view" in New Ancestor Discoveries differs from the individual trees of persons we match. It's possible the trees omitted a generation also.

New Ancestor Discoveries are, therefore, a mixed bag. In most cases, the "ancestor" is probably a different relationship, but the hint received may be useful.

Great Excitement Quickly Turns to Sadness

Recently I found one of those really exciting matches at Ancestry -- one where the person matches you through a single ancestor rather than a couple. The match was on a great-great-grandmother. I descended through her first husband; the DNA match descended through her second. An opportunity to focus on a single line!

The problem, of course, is Ancestry DNA lacks a chromosome browser. I contacted the matching kit manager to see if she had uploaded the raw data to GEDmatch.com. She had not. After explaining what it was and did, she was not interested in uploading at this time.

When I looked at the "shared matches" on Ancestry, I was only able to identify one of the two. That person matched my fourth great grandparents on my two great grandmother's maternal side. The other person shows no known connection to that surname. I'm not currently able to make a connection to the tree although perhaps I will be able to do so in the future to make a triangulation . . . but I'd really love to know on which segment the match is located . . . and whether persons who tested at other companies also match the segment.

I hope the kit manager attends some sessions on working with autosomal DNA and learns the benefit of GEDmatch and discovers whats she is missing by not uploading. I did, at least, provide her with a link to a video by Angie Bush that I hope she'll watch.

Thoughts on In-Person Conferences

Amy Johnson Crow asked "Are In-Person Genealogy Events Dead?" in a recent blog post. She didn't think so, and I don't think so either.

Attendance was down a bit at this year's NGS Conference, but location was probably the biggest factor. Fewer persons have Florida ancestry than areas more central to the country. The distance was great for most persons who did not want to fly. Major repositories in the area were not plentiful unless you were fortunate enough to have ancestors in that immediate area.

Cost may have been a factor as well. The hotel prices and luncheons/banquet seemed slightly higher than some in the past, but not that much higher. Some of us went to Publix, grabbed a loaf of bread, some sandwich stuff, and ate lunch in our own rooms.

I suspect conflicts with college and university graduations were another factor for many travelling from a distance with family members graduating. I know it is difficult for me to attend both NGS and FGS because of the timing, but I do try to attend at least one if at all possible. It's generally not a problem if I'm selected to speak or if I'm involved in some other activity/event at the conference.

I enjoyed the conference tremendously. I attended lectures on new-to-me topics. I enjoyed spending time with fellow genealogists. I definitely plan to attend next year's conference in Raleigh. I'm considering FGS in Pittsburgh if logistics and budget work out. I would also like to attend IGHR next year since the date change means it will no longer conflict with a work-related conference.

Webinars are nice, but it's quite easy to go into webinar overload. I'm more selective of the ones I attend than I used to be. They are not a substitute for in-person interaction that occurs at conferences.

Each conference or event has its own culture. Some people are comfortable with all of them; some are comfortable only with the one that fits their own style best. I encourage you to attend conferences, whether local, regional, or national!

Do the Official Vital Records Lie?

Recently I was talking with one of my cousins. She shared how her brother's middle name was erroneous on his birth certificate. The family even called him by the middle name his mother gave him at birth. However, when the birth certificate was pulled out of a safe so he could apply for a passport, the error was discovered.

In this particular situation, I can see how a doctor or hospital employee unfamiliar with the unusual name for this area at this time might have misheard it and written it down incorrectly or how a person at the state records office might have written the wrong thing from the form. Both middle names start with the same two letters, and both have two syllables.

The informant for the birth certificate should have been the parents. They would have known the name they were giving their son. The error in the record must have been introduced elsewhere.

Death certificates often contain problematic information regarding birth. The informants on these are often persons who were not present at the time of birth and may provide incorrect dates and locations. They often have incomplete parental information, and in some cases, erroneous information.

While the birth information on birth certificates is generally less problematic than birth information on death certificates, we need to reconcile discrepancies using all the evidence.

Cumberland Gap Genealogy Jamboree 2016

This year's Cumberland Gap Genealogy Jamboree will be held June 9-11. While the event includes reenactments, old timey crafts, and much more, the event includes lectures of interest to genealogists.

J. Mark Lowe mulling and pondering at the 2015 Cumberland Gap Genealogy Jamboree

The main track of lectures is held at the National Park's visitor center's auditorium.

Thursday, June 9

9 am - 10 am - Dora Fisher / What's New on FamilySearch
10:30 am - 11:30 am - Dora Fisher / FamilySearch Strategies
1 pm - 2 pm - Peggy Clemens Lauritzen / Putting America to Work: The Records of the WPA (Works Progress Administration)
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm - Peggy Clemens Lauritzen / The Scots-Irish in America

Friday, June 10

9 am - 10 am - Ann Blomquist / Migration Routes
10:30 am - 11:30 am - Ann Blomquist / Using Old Newspapers for Research
1 pm - 2 pm - J. Mark Lowe / Proving Early Relationships
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm - J. Mark Lowe / Cemeteries as a Genealogical Resource

Saturday, June 11

9 am - 10 am - J. Mark Lowe / Using State Archives & Libraries from Afar
10:30 am - 11:30 am - J. Mark Lowe / Talking to the Neighbors to Learn More about Your Family
1 pm - 2 pm - Lori Thornton / Researching Your Baptist Ancestor
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm - Lori Thornton / The Basics of DNA for the Family Historian

The events in the Festival Park location in the town of Cumberland Gap are a bit more diverse in nature but include some lectures of interest to genealogists.

Thursday, June 9

10 am - 11 am - Dick Gault / Military Research Pertaining to Appalachia
11 am - Noon - Jerry Mustin / Explaining the Meaning of Old Sayings
1 pm - 2 pm - Dick Gault / Appalachian Research
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm - Mike Dahl / Kings Mountain: The American Spirit

Friday, June 10

10 am - 11 am - General Lee / Civil War Flag Presentation
11:30 am - 12:30 pm - Dick Gault / Cumberland Gap Area Feuds
1 pm - 2 pm - Abraham Lincoln
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm - Peggy Clemens Lauritzen / America's Forgotten War: The War of 1812
     or Dick Gault / Cemetery Research: Field Trip to Cemetery

Saturday, June 11

10:15 am - 11:15 am - Sharon Petro / Dulcimer
11:30 am - 12:30 pm - Denise Reagan (Nashville Singer/Songwriter)
1 pm - 2 pm - Abraham Lincoln-General Lee Debate
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm - Peggy Sawyer / Storytelling: Ghost & Folklore/Stories Galore

Vendors along the main street in the town of Cumberland Gap during the 2013 Jamboree.

If you are in the area, please consider joining us for one or more of the days!

Looking Back at NGS 2016 in Fort Lauderdale

By now most of you have read numerous accounts of this year's National Genealogical Society Family History Conference in Fort Lauderdale. I want to share a little from my perspective.

I arrived in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday afternoon and was excited to discover I had a room with a view. The room overlooked the cruise port.

Cruise Ships in Fort Lauderdale

We also had quite the view of the bridge across the Intercoastal Waterway on 17th Street.

Drawbridge over Intercoastal Waterway at 17th Street

I enjoyed visiting with friends after arriving on Tuesday. I roomed with Yolanda Campbell Lifter. She's a great roommate although we mostly saw each other only in the evenings.

The Convention Center as seen from the Hotel Parking Lot

On Wednesday and Thursday I mostly attended the Caribbean track of lectures. If you want to learn something new, going to lectures about areas in which you have not researched is one way to do so. I believe we are going to see an upsurge in persons seeking their Cuban roots with the lifting of sanctions against the country. Unfortunately record preservation has not been the highest priority of the Cuban government and a lot of barriers exist to accessing what does exist. Fortunately church records can often be very helpful to those seeking their Cuban roots. My favorite lectures in the track were the two by Jeff Haines (Bahamas/Florida and Barbados) and the one by Michael Hait (San Domingue).

I attended several lectures on African-American research during the week that were also quite useful. Deborah Abbott presented a wealth of information on manuscript collections useful in African-American research on Thursday morning. Friday morning she demonstrated the difficulty of researching enslaved ancestors but presented wonderful examples of finding them by using their "FAN Club." Mark Lowe followed her with another presentation showing all sorts of places to locate marriage records for freedmen.

Intercoastal Waterway

I spent most of Saturday in the State Research track as the emphasis was on Southern States. Diane Richard gave a great presentation on records for poor ancestors in North Carolina. Jeff Haines' presentation on South Carolina Land Records introduced me to a few resources I have not yet explored for some of those "lost in South Carolina" ancestors. Mark Lowe gave a pitch for next year's conference as he gave a lecture on North Carolina research.

Across the bridge

No convention would be complete without socializing with friends. The exhibit hall offered fewer vendors this year than some years. It's always fun to see who you "run into" while visiting the various booths. I attended a breakfast one morning where I had the opportunity to sit and visit with several genealogists including Judy Russell, D. Joshua Taylor, Beth Stahr, and others. We had some very interesting conversations that morning. Many genealogists enjoyed the luncheons and/or NGS Banquet also. One evening I had a message from Donna Pointkouski asking if I could meet her and Lisa Alzo outside by the pool so we could visit. As soon as I wrapped up the visit with the person I was visiting at the time, I headed out there and enjoyed a nice hour long visit with them. The weather was quite pleasant that evening also!

Lori and Jeff

If you've never attended an NGS conference, you really need to prioritize attending next year's conference in Raleigh. Of course, those of you who have attended previous conferences need to prioritize it too. (No -- Mark Lowe, next year's national chair, is not paying me to say that!)

Comparing Admixtures of Siblings and of Parent and Child(ren)

Recently Judy Russell demonstrated for her blog followers why ethnicity estimates provided by testing companies could not be trusted in her post "Those Percentages, Revisited." I knew problems in my family's admixture results were present in the results, but until Judy posted the table, I never thought of creating one for my own family.

Using the results from the same company Judy used, I created a table.

Country	Me	Brother1	Brother2	Dad	Niece
British Isles	69%	67%		27%	84%
Scandinavia	19%	6%
Southern Europe	3%	7%
Western and Central Europe		18%	100%	73%	15%
Asia Minor	9%	2%
West Africa					1%

Let me make a quick note. The niece is the daughter of "Brother2." Is it not interesting that he is 100% of Western and Central European ancestry, but that she only has 15% rather than the expected 50%? She has rather strong British Isles ancestry.

I seem to have missed out on the Western and Central European ancestry, but I have a high percentage of "Asia Minor." I have a rather high percentage of Scandinavian ancestry according to this estimate, but only one brother shares any of that with me, and it apparently came from my mother's side of the family.

I decided to compare the admixtures at another site, but unfortunately I cannot include Brother2 in these admixture results as he only tested at the one company.

Country	Me	Brother1	Dad	Niece
Great Britain	70%	48%	52%	85%
Ireland	11%	27%	31%	9%
Italy/Greece	8%	10%	6%
Europe East	4%		< 1%
European Jewish	4%
Finland/Northwest Russia	1%	2%	1%	4%
Scandinavia	< 1%	1%	5%	<1%
Europe West	< 1%	9%
Iberian Peninsula			2%
Caucasus	2%	2%	2%
Benin/Togo		< 1%
African Southeastern Bantu			1%
Mali				< 1%
Africa North				< 1%

Overall these results seem to be a little less erratic than the earlier ones, but differences still exist. I find the differences between testing companies fascinating. I'm the only one who has tested with 23 and Me so I cannot determine how different admixtures are between siblings and/or parents.

Admixture remains the least reliable part of the DNA test. It's fun to see, but one should not rely too much on the results returned.

Carolina Cradle

Ramsey, Robert W. Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1762. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1964.

Have you ever put off reading a book, and you aren't exactly sure why? I love reading about history. North Carolina history is one of my favorite states in which to research. I've reads lots of books on North Carolina's history. I've known about this book for years and knew it was highly recommended. I even checked it out of my library once and didn't get around to reading it.

Last month was my "Thingaversary" on LibraryThing. It's a tradition for people to celebrate the anniversary of the date they joined LibraryThing by purchasing one book for each year a member and one to grow up. Since it was my 9th "Thingaversary," I was entitled to ten books. I'm definitely out of space on my shelves at home so I decided e-books would be the way to go this year. I decided to purchase only books that were not available at the local library fiction-wise and for the nonfiction books, I wanted books that I wanted to add to my permanent collection but for which I lacked space. My reading tastes are diverse so I decided my purchases should be also. I had a historical fiction title, a mystery, a cookbook, a Garfield book with "best of" Sunday cartoons, three religious non-fiction volumes I could use devotionally, and three North Carolina history books, including Carolina Cradle, in my purchases.

For the history reading, I decided to start with Ramsey's book. Almost from the moment I began reading it, I began scolding myself for not reading it sooner.

Ramsey examined the settlement of the Yadkin Valley area in North Carolina, especially what was early Rowan County. Rowan was formed from the northern part of Anson County in 1753. Researchers, of course, know that many counties were formed from Rowan County, so the area at one time included much of what is now known as the Piedmont area. Many of the early settlers came from Eastern Pennsylvania, especially Berks, Lancaster, and Chester Counties. A few other counties in Pennsylvania and some in Maryland also contributed to settlement of the Yadkin Valley.

Ramsey looked at records and manuscripts in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina in his study and provided a rich treasure for family historians in doing so. While none of my researched North Carolina ancestors were included, I recognized names of associates and even some names which could be the common name ancestors I need to find time to research.

Ramsey discussed the European origins and religions of those who settled the area also.

Although Ramsey wrote the book over fifty years ago, it is still a rich treasure for historians and genealogists alike and is highly readable. My biggest regret is that I did not read this one sooner.

Fact-Checking Books and Other Published Sources

I recently read a blog post that concerned one of my ancestral towns in North Mississippi. In the post, the author cited a published book on the town's history. Unfortunately many persons with answers who lived in the town (now a ghost town) raised concerns about the information in the book as they first read it. My paternal grandmother was one of those persons who could tell you everything about everyone and how they were related, but she could also tell you about area history. My dad and my mom both commented "that's wrong" several times as they read the book. I read an excerpt to someone else who was familiar with the area's history who also made comments about errors in the book. None of these then living individuals ever resided in the town of Cotton Gin Port, but their grandparents did. They had heard stories all their lives. I found things where evidence did not add up as well. While I still own and consult the source, I treat it with skepticism and try to find other sources to back up the author's conclusions.

When the blog (which I'm hoping has been removed due to the erroneous information) stated that the area was part of Marion County in Alabama until the state line was surveyed in 1821, I knew the author had not fact-checked and had accepted the information.

Why? I had ancestors living in Cotton Gin Port at the time, and I knew they were enumerated in Monroe County, Mississippi, and not in the Alabama Territory as the statement on the blog about the area's history would lead the reader to believe. I took the name of the "first settler" mentioned in the blog post, plugged it into the 1820 census search, and found him in Monroe County, Mississippi, not in Alabama Territory.

I am sometimes guilty of accepting too much that is published in local histories of towns and such as "facts" without verifying the sources. I sometimes accept the information as true, even when I know they sometimes contain errors. This means I need to go back and locate other sources that support the information contained in them. In some cases, I found documents such as city directories, Fire Insurance maps, and deeds to support the book's information. In other cases, I just assumed those were available without really checking. This means I'll probably be generating a longer "to do" list on some of the old research I'm reviewing.

Religion in North Carolina

Every once in awhile, you stumble across a collection so rich that it just begs to be shared! Such was the case last weekend when I ran across a collection on Internet Archive called "Religion in North Carolina." Partner institutions for the project are Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Wake Forest University. The collection's description states "the materials in this collection include local church histories, periodicals, clergy biographies, cookbooks, event programs, directories, and much more."

At the time I'm writing this post (in advance), there are 6,222 items in the collection. That's pretty amazing. The collection has seven collections within it. I will list each and give a few examples of materials included.

Meetings, Proceedings, and Conference Reports (2727 items)

Minutes of the Buncombe Baptist Association of Buncombe County, 1931-1940
Minutes of the United Evangelical Lutheran Synod of North America, 1930
Minutes of the Salem Presbytery

Church and Religious Body Histories (1102 items)

Henry R. Mathis. Along the Border: a History of Virgilina, Virginia and the Surrounding Area in Halifax and Mecklenburg Counties in Virginia and Person and Granville Counties in North Carolina.
Winnie Wills Broglin. Antioch United Methodist Church, Hot Springs, North Carolina: Built on Faith.
Adelaide I. Fries. Records of the Moravians in North Carolina: volume II, 1752-1775.

Newsletters, Newspapers, and Serial Publications (1520 items)

Zion's Landmark (vol.  33, 1899-1900)
American Jewish Times-Outlook (1961-1962)
The Primitive Baptist (vol. 6, 1841)

Ephemerals: Cookbooks, Event Programs, and Directories (368 items)

St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Washington, N.C.) Keys to the Kitchen
O. Norris Smith and Rebecca H. Smith. Family Burying Grounds and Abandoned Church Cemeteries in Guilford County, N.C. and Immediate Environs
Dedication Service of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, Creech Road, Raleigh, North Carolina, Sunday, August 28, 1977

Clergy Autobiographical and Biographical Materials: Journals, Testimonies, Etc. (152 items)

M. W. Williams and George W. Watkins. Who's Who Among North Carolina Negro Baptists with a Brief History of Negro Baptist Organizations
C. T. Thrift. Robert Paine. Methodist Bishop: a Great North Carolinian, Person's Greatest Son
S. C. Ray. I'm Glad I Stayed, 1949-1979

Theosophy, Philosophy, Psychology & Religion (77 items)

Claude E. Spencer. Periodicals of the Disciples of Christ and Related Religious Groups
Alva Washington Plyler. What Western North Carolina Owes
James O. Kelly. Essay on Negro-Slavery

Sermons of North Carolina (111 items)

R. H. Morrison. Funeral Sermon of the Rev. John Robinson, D.D., Late Pastor of Poplar Tent Church, Preached at Poplar Tent, February 22d, 1844
C. Daniel Crews. What It Was, Was Jesus: for the 250th Anniversary Service of the Southern Province of the Moravian Church, Wait Chapel, Wake Forest University, Sunday, November 16, 2003
W. A. Harper. The Spirit of Elon College: An Excellent Spirit

The list above is a mere drop in the bucket of what is available via this resource. I've tried to include materials from many denominations and even from Judaism.

Thou Shalt Not Accept Shaky Leaf Hints Without Reviewing Them

In the last week or so, I began reviewing additional shaky leaf hints at Ancestry for some of my more recent ancestors. I was appalled when I looked at the family trees that included my ancestor James M. Thornton.

Let's look at some of the erroneous information I found.

Erroneous information: James M. was born in Georgia. 

Fact: James M's Civil War (Union) pension file gave his birthplace as Jefferson County, Alabama. Censuses consistently listed James M.'s birthplace as Alabama.

Erroneous information: James M. was in the 1880 Lincoln County, Tennessee census.

Fact: James M. was enumerated in Franklin County, Alabama in 1880. [See 1880 United States Federal Census, Franklin County, Alabama, population schedule, Newburgh, Beat 8, SD 1, ED 95, p. 627B, family 35, lines 9-15, Jas. M. Thornton family; digital image, Family Search (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4JJ-N64 : accessed 23 Apr 2016); citing National Archives microfilm publication T9, roll 13.] Those who accepted the Lincoln County, Tennessee census are likely accepting it because James M.'s first wife's name was Lucinda. However, she died in childbirth in 1855, and their son Cape was reared by his maternal grandparents. The James enumerated in Lincoln County was born in Virginia instead of Alabama.

Erroneous information: James M. Thornton descends from the Dozier/Mark/Luke Thornton line of Virginia. These trees list James M.'s paternal grandparents as William Thornton and Clarissa Vice.
Fact: Y-DNA testing of descendants shows James M. Thornton's descendants are from the South Carolina E group whose common ancestors appear to be Thomas Thornton and Martha Boykin of North Carolina. (Dozier is part of the Virginia A group.)

Other mistakes were also found. For example, one person said he died in the Armory in Splunge, Mississippi. As a native of Monroe County, I got a big chuckle out of that one. Splunge does not and has never had an armory. The person obviously meant the town of Amory which is in that part of the county. However, James M. lived in the community of Splunge which was really a bit of a distance from Amory. Persons living in Splunge would have traveled to Amory when they needed to travel by railroad or when they needed items they could not get in the local community.

I never accept the tree hints. I do, however, review them for hints AFTER I've worked through the hints given and made certain I have all the census records and checked other sources for key pieces that might be missing such as marriage records, birth and death records, cemetery records, etc. I then take any hints I find to see if those can be documented. Most of the time my own research and documentation has already uncovered the hints, or I can easily disregard hints because someone has added something that is very obviously erroneous, such as the parents being born after the child.

Always check shaky leaf record hints also to make sure they apply to your ancestor. Recently I was reviewing shaky leafs on a different line on which I was working. I got 3 hints on this particular person. None of the hints were records for the individual on whom I was working. I searched and found the right records rather than accepting the ones given. In fact, I had to switch from Ancestry to Family Search to give me two critical records proved my own research was on the right track.

Delicious - a social bookmarking site

Several years ago, I discovered Delicious, a social bookmarking site. I found it to be very useful in managing all those web sites we want to revisit. It was purchased by Yahoo! and earlier this year the site received a major (and long overdue) overhaul.

For each site you want to remember, you add a link title and the URL. You then add tags to help you remember the things you find helpful on the site and can even add your own description.

Here's a sample of a few things I have tagged "genealogy":

A few of my Delicious bookmarks for genealogy.

I don't just use it for research sites. I also use it to help me remember things I want to see or places I might want to eat when I do research trips or conferences.

I haven't scoped out Fort Lauderdale restaurants (as of the time I'm writing this post) for NGS 2016, but here are a few of the ones I gathered for the 2014 conference in Richmond.

A few restaurants I gathered in preparation for NGS 2014 in Richmond.

While this isn't my complete list of tags, it will show my most common ones.

My most used Delicious tags.

You can also sort that list alphabetically to make it easier to locate a tag.

I did, however, mention that it is a "social bookmarking" site. Users may follow other persons. (For any of you wanting to follow me, I'm "tnlori.") I also "pin" things to Pinterest, but Delicious is great for sites that are not "pinnable." Also, I've been using Delicious much longer because it pre-dated Pinterest.

Another genealogist and I once collaborated on a project involving research in multiple states. We intended to produce an article, but we lost interest after research I did proved the "interesting item" from another state was not the same man as the person in the two main states. The two of us used delicious to handle various online content items the other researcher would want to see. We used a common tag for our project. We could see items in each other's feed.

Delicious also has the ability to make a link "private" where only the person bookmarking the link sees it.

Other social bookmarking sites, such as Diigo, exist. Pinboard, which used to be free, now charges an annual fee for their service. I have not updated my Diigo account for several years although I visit it from time to time. I'm sure that my Pinboard bookmarks disappeared when I failed to pay the annual fee. Delicious is my favorite, especially with its new look and feel.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - 23 Apr 2016

Randy Seaver has asked us all to reminisce with 6 questions about our childhood this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

Without further ado, let the fun begin!

What was your first illness as a child?

I honestly have no idea. It was probably something pretty simple like strep throat. I do, however, remember the outbreak of Chicken Pox that went around my classmates in about the third grade.

What was the first funeral you attended?

I am sure I went to almost every funeral that occurred in the family, regardless of how young I was, unless Mom took me to Nanny's house while they went. I really think it was for one of Pappaw's brothers, or maybe for someone in the church. My maternal grandfather died when I was eight at our house, but I had been to many funerals by the time he died. I remember how we used to always sit around the funeral home pretty much all night with the families on the night before the funeral and then attend the funeral the next day. I even remember when the funeral home caught fire. (I was a little older then, but we all went to watch the fire.)

What was your favorite book as a child?

Finally an easy one! I loved the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. While most people would say Little House on the Prairie was their favorite, I preferred Little Town on the Prairie. If you want to go to an even earlier age, my favorite book as a preschooler was There's a Mouse in the House. It was one of those little books you picked up at the dime store. It wasn't a Little Golden Book, but it was a similar series.

What was your favorite class in Elementary School?

I loved our second grade reading class with Mrs. Green. We had little reading groups that we got to name ourselves. I was the leader of the "Popcorn" group. A close runner-up would be third grade math class with Miss Davis. She was so fun!

What was your favorite toy as a child?

My mom always kept me well-supplied with dolls. In fact, my dolls were the envy of at least one of my neighbors. I would have to say that "Baby Tender Love" was probably the one I played with most because my friend Delores also got one that year. My Aunt Daisy sewed outfits for my dolls. My sister-in-law Sandy also made quite a few as well. I'm sure my mom even made a few.

Did you learn how to swim, and where did you learn?

I took swimming lessons from one of Dr. Moore's twin daughters at the Amory Municipal Swimming Pool. I actually became a very good swimmer and often won the races at church camp!

My Sanborn Connection

Heather Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy posted about her connection to John Sanborn of New Hampshire. On her Facebook post, she asked if her Facebook friends were descended from John, and my reply was "yes."

I thought it might be fun to include my line from John here. It would take "forever" to write a documented post so I'll leave documentation of the individuals and their parentage for future posts. I have not done extensive work on the Sanborn line, and I did learn the exact location in England where John was born from Heather's post! It's a post I've "pinned" for future reference.

Generation 1.
John Sanborn (son of John Sanborn and Ann Batchelder): born abt 1620 Brimpton, Berkshire, England; died 10 Oct 1692 Hampton, New Hampshire. I'm descended from his first wife Mary Tuck, daughter of Robert Tuck and his wife Joanna.

Generation 2.
Joseph Sanborn: born 13 Mar 1659; married Mary Gove 28 Dec 1682; died abt 1722, Hampton, New Hampshire.

Generation 3.
Abigail Sanborn: born 1 Apr 1686 Hampton, New Hampshire; married Ebenezer Dearborn 7 Oct 1703 Hampton, New Hampshire; died 26 Feb 1768 Hampton, New Hampshire.

Generation 4.
Benjamin Dearborn: born 13 Aug 1713 probably Chester, New Hampshire; married Susanna Colcord 31 Oct 1735; died 15 May 1772 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire. (County was formed in 1771.)

Generation 5.
Samuel Dearborn: born 15 Apr 1745 Chester, New Hampshire; married Abigail Ward, daughter of Rev. Nathan Ward and Tamasin Ireland Ward, 22 Jul 1777 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire; died 22 Jul 1833 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire.

Generation 6.
Nathan Dearborn: born 4 Sep 1785 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire; married 1 - Sarah Seeley 6 Feb 1812 Washington County, Ohio; married 2 - Lucy Perkins 26 Sep 1813 (probably in New Hampshire - there's a story about their wedding trip by horseback that is widely circulated); died 22 Feb 1847 Malta, Morgan County, Ohio. (I'm descended from Lucy.)

Generation 7.
Betsey Dearborn: born 4 Sep 1818 Malta, Morgan County, Ohio; married Stephen Taylor 8 Mar 1837 Morgan County, Ohio; died 12 Mar 1899 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory.

Betsey Dearborn Taylor, abt 1881

Generation 8.
Laura Lucy Taylor: born 25 Apr 1854 McLean County, Illinois; married Abraham Lowden Lantz 15 Feb 1874 McLean County, Illinois; died 25 Sep 1922 Monroe County, Mississippi.

Generation 9.
Irving Lee Lantz: born 19 Nov 1885 Oak Grove, McLean County, Illinois; married Gillie Mae Hester 5 Aug 1917 Monroe County, Mississippi; died 5 Sep 1971 Amory, Monroe County, Mississippi.

Generation 10.
Dorothy Ann Lantz: born 30 Aug 1924 Monroe County, Mississippi; married James Thomas Thornton, Jr. 17 Mar 1946 Amory, Monroe County, Mississippi; died 22 Mar 2010 Amory, Monroe County, Mississippi.

Generation 11.
Me!

Traveling in the Tardis to Meet Thomas Duke

Elizabeth O'Neal over at Little Bites of Life has invited all genealogy bloggers to take a ride with the Doctor in the Tardis to meet one of our ancestors. It may surprise most of you that I am choosing to go back to the 19th century instead of further back in time. However, I could think of two ancestors that might be able to steer me in the right direction to continue pursuing their lines--W. Daniel Phillips and Thomas Duke. Thomas Duke is the one I chose because I know the next step will be in North Carolina, a state in which I visit the archives on a regular basis.

Who was Thomas Duke?

Thomas Duke was born 3 May 1828 ¹ in Virginia.² Family tradition states that his father was Benjamin Duke and that his mother was Elisha? Parker. Much of this information is based on the fact that his daughter Berniece Estelle "Bennie" Duke was named for his father and on the fact that his son James Parker Duke's middle name came from Thomas' mother's surname. The name Elisha was passed down through daughter Martha Virginia's descendants. Thomas was orphaned. We do not know exactly when. Some of his grandchildren who never met him report stories about Thomas working on a tobacco plantation of relatives in North Carolina, leading to the inevitable family story that this was the Washington Duke family. No evidence for that connection has been located. It seems unlikely since Washington was not born until 1820 himself and did not gain his fortune until after the Civil War.³ It does, however, seem possible Thomas moved to Mississippi from North Carolina. Thomas allegedly came to Monroe County, Mississippi with a Knowles family. The only Knowles family in Monroe County in 1850 is a Benjamin G. Knowles family.⁴ Both Benjamin and his wife were born in Rhode Island. He was a merchant. Although no apparent connection with Thomas is evident in Monroe County records, Benjamin Knowles resided near families associated with Nancy Allred's family. He arrived by 1850 as he is enumerated twice in that census--once with the Isaac N. Rogers family in the Eastern division of the county⁵ and once with the Lyles J. Parchment family in the Western division.⁶ In 1860, he is enumerated with the B. G. Doughtry family in the Western Division of Monroe County in an area served by the Aberdeen post office.⁷

Thomas married Nancy Malinda Allred 15 August 1867 in Monroe County, Mississippi.⁸ They had five children. Berniece Estelle "Bennie" Duke was born 5 July 1868.⁹ Martha Virginia Duke was born 16 December 1870.¹⁰ James Parker Duke was born 12 February 1873.¹¹ Joseph Thomas Duke was born 3 January 1876.¹² Myrtis Duke was born 9 July 1883.¹³

Thomas and his family are enumerated in township 12 of Monroe County in an area served by the Smithville post office in 1870.¹⁴ By 1880, he and his family are residing in the Cotton Gin Port area of Monroe County.¹⁵ Thomas died 18 May 1894 at the age of 66 and is buried in the Greenbrier Cemetery in Becker, Monroe County, Mississippi.¹⁶


What Question(s) Do You Need to Ask Him?

1. Where in Virginia were you born?
2. When did you move to North Carolina?
3. When and where were you orphaned? Who were your guardians?
4. Tell me about growing up -- what you did, your friends, your education, the places you lived.
5. Who was your father? Where was he born? Who were his parents?
6. Who was your mother? Where was she born? Who were her parents?
7. Tell me any family stories you remember your parents or relatives relating to you.
8. Tell me about how you came to Monroe County and any stops you made along the way.

I'm certain that his answers would spawn additional questions. He would probably think I'm a pretty nosy outsider. I doubt he knew what an oral history project was. Fortunately the University of Mississippi admitted women in 1882 so I might be able to pull off my time-travel venture as an oral history project. While I have not researched it, I doubt that the Industrial Institute and College (now Mississippi University for Women) included such programs as history when established in 1884. Mississippi State University was found as an agricultural and mechanical land-grant university. No date for the first admission of women at it has yet been located.


Is There a Problem You Can Help Your Ancestor Solve?

None that would make sense to resolve in that period of time. Family tradition states he was somewhat crippled. Most thought it was due to an injury received during the Civil War. Although a William T. Duke served in Captain Berry's Company of the Mississippi Infantry Reserves in the Battle of Harrisburg (now Tupelo), Mississippi, this individual with the rank of sergeant died in the battle.¹⁷


Will You Reveal Your True Identity to Your Ancestor?

I doubt it. It would be too mind-boggling.


Will You Bring Your Ancestor to the Future to Meet His Descendants?

Why? It would not serve a useful purpose.

FOOTNOTES

---

1 Greenbrier Cemetery (Becker, Monroe County, Mississippi, off Old Highway 25), Thomas Duke and wife marker; read and photographed by Lori Thornton, abt. 1992.^↩
2 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Monroe County, Mississippi, population schedule, Eastern Division, p. 16, dwelling 114, family 121, line 19, Thomas Duke; National Archives microfilm publication M432, roll 378. The birthplace Virginia is consistent in other census records.^↩
3 Duke University. Rubenstein Library, "Washington Duke (1820-1905)," web page, (https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/uarchives/history/articles/washington-duke: accessed 13 Apr 2016).^↩
4 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Monroe Co., Miss., pop. sch., p. 16, dw. 114, fam. 121, line 19, Thomas Duke.^↩
5 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Monroe Co., Miss., pop. sch., Eastern div., p. 7A (stamped), dw. 99, fam. 105, Benj'n Knowles family.^↩
6 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Monroe Co., Miss., pop. sch., Western div., p. 178, dw. 361, fam. 361, line 4, Thomas Duke.^↩
7 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Monroe County, Mississippi, population schedule, Western Division, Aberdeen post office, p. 470, dwelling 304, family 304, line 38, Thomas Duke; National Archives microfilm publication M653, roll 587.^↩
8 Monroe County Mississippi Marriages (1821-1921), s.l.: s.n., n.d., vol. 2, p. 149; Evans Memorial Library, Aberdeen, Mississippi. Copy of marriage record from Monroe County marriage records is in possession of Lori Thornton. It appears to be on a page ending 48 in the marriage record that covers that period of time. I failed to note the marriage record and page number at the time the copy was made in the early 1990s. The bondsman was John Martin, and the license was issued 13 Aug 1867. It was performed by Franklin Finney, a Minister of the Gospel. A discussion concerning the evidence for Malinda's first name is located in my earlier blog post, "Brick Wall: Thomas Duke." ^↩
9 Greenbrier Cemetery, Becker, Monroe Co., Miss., Bennie E. Duke marker.^↩
10 Greenbrier Cemetery, Becker, Monroe Co., Miss., Martha V. Duke Moss and William R. Duke marker.^↩
11 "U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,"digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Apr 2016), card for James Parker Duke, order no. 873, Local Board, Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi; citing United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, National Archives and Records Administration, publication M1509, roll not stated.^↩
12 "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Apr 2016), Joe T. Duke, no. 427-90-2724; citing Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007.^↩
13 Greenbrier Cemetery, Becker, Monroe Co., Miss., E.G. and Myrtis Betts marker.^↩
14 1870 U.S. Federal Census, Monroe County, Mississippi, population schedule, Township 12, Smithville post office, p. 196, lines 22-24, Thomas Duke household; National Archives microfilm publication M593, roll 741.^↩
16 1880 U.S. Federal Census, Monroe County, Mississippi, population schedule, Cotton Gin Port, SD 1, ED 125, p. 36A (stamped), sheet 15, dwelling 123, family 123, lines 1-6, Thomas Duke family; National Archives microfilm publication T9, roll 658.^↩
16 Greenbriar Cemetery, Becker, Monroe Co., Miss., Thomas Duke and wife marker.^↩
17 Jim Taylor, "Captain Berry's Company, Reserves," Jim Taylor's Home Page, web page, (http://www.datasync.com/~jtaylor/1MSRH.htm : accessed 13 Apr 2016).^↩

Reading Up a Storm

Gates, Eva. Reading Up a Storm. New York: New American Library/Obsidian, 2016.

Lucy Richardson, Bodie Island's librarian and sometimes sleuth, sees some unusual lights minutes before seeing a boat in distress. She calls the Coast Guard who rescues the couple. However, the man turns up dead the next day. Stephanie, a Raleigh attorney, is on a leave of absence to care for her invalid mother. The deceased turns out to be Stephanie's father. As Lucy and the local law enforcement investigate, plenty of motives and suspects turn up, even though the man has resided elsewhere for a long time. I really enjoyed the Outer Banks atmosphere on this one. I want to go back and read earlier installments and the next one too. Libraries, lighthouses, cats, and North Carolina -- what's not to like about this combination? This review is based on an Advance Reader's copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes.

Genealogy Saturday at Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana on 16 April 2016

I will be making 4 presentations at Evansville, Indiana's Willard Library on Saturday, 16 April 2016.

Schedule:

9:30-10:30 AM - Social Networking for Genealogists
10:45-11:45 AM - Genealogy in the Clouds
1:00-2:00 PM - Exploring Your Ancestor's World with Maps
2:15-3:15 PM - Check Up Time: Examining Your Old Research

To register for any or all of these, go to http://www.willard.lib.in.us/calendar_of_events/index.php?Type=Genealogy, select the presentation(s) in which you are interested, and sign up!

Hope to see you there.